Sustaining Email Remarketing Campaigns Without User Irritation

Email remarketing is usually targeted towards reducing shopping cart abandonment, but not always. Email remarketing campaigns can be used to ping users who have initiated any conversion process but not finished it. A common form of email remarketing is to contact users who have begun the sign up process for a website but not completed it, or those who have signed up for a website but not filled out a profile. But how can you sustain a remarketing campaign without user irritation?

Always Offer Some Form of Additional Value

Shopping cart abandonment campaigns have it easy. They almost always offer some form of value, such as discounts or free shipping. Customers love seeing coupons delivered straight into their inbox. But the situation can be a little more challenging for businesses that are remarketing a non-monetized conversion. For instance, a free site that wants to encourage users to finish their sign up process. Remember that content, too, can be valuable.

Here are a few examples of proving a site’s value through remarketing messaging:

Coupon site: Check out these great deals that were posted just this week! Finish your profile to view others!

Dating site: Look at these new profiles near you! Sign in now to receive your matches!

Industry site: Are you up-to-date on these new industry trends? Connect with us to find out more!

Give Users an Extremely Painless Opt Out Process

The days of trying to make opt out options circuitous and obscure are dead, if not due to sheer user fatigue than due to rather straightforward legislation. The easier it is to opt out, the more positive the impression will be of your brand. It may not be that the user isn’t interested in your product or service; it may only be that the user is trying to clear out their inbox or do not need the remarketing emails to track your business activity. Keep your opt out cheerful and upbeat and you will increase the chances that your customer will come back.

Target Your Remarketing Towards Both Demographic and Behavior

Use all of the information you have at your disposal to target your remarketing effectively. The best remarketing campaigns don’t offer just any coupon, they specifically offer coupons for the products that the user was interested in — even if the discount code can actually be used on any product in their basket. This effectively personalizes the messaging and inspires the user to convert.

The modern user is skeptical of emails that begin with “Hello, [your name],” and then go on to include generic content — so if that’s the extent of your personalization, you need to step up your game.

Instead, consider a few of these options:

Wishlists: Trigger a remarketing email that notes when the prices on certain items that are already on their wishlist have gone down.

Sign up prompts: Identify when a user has visited the site several times without finishing their profile and send them helpful information regarding the process.

Window shoppers: Send a remarketing email to logged in users that browse but do not buy, featuring special promotions in the areas that they most often browse.

Time and Schedule Your Remarketing Properly

How often can you send a remarketing email without it becoming frustrating? It depends on the email. You should never be sending identical emails to your users, one after another. Each subsequent email should be materially different from the last. Timing, however, can be a little challenging.

Many remarketers suggest that you send your first email within an hour of the consumer leaving your site. Your site is still fresh in their mind and they are still likely interested in your product or service. Waiting too long could mean that they’ve already taken themselves out of the market. But after that, a reminder email can be sent anywhere from one to three days following initial contact. Beyond that, a once a week reminder may be more appropriate.

Fully Integrate Your Email Messaging Into Your Website

Your job isn’t done once your user returns to your website. Your website must be properly integrated into your remarketing campaign to ensure a smooth user experience. Otherwise the user may simply get frustrated and leave again. Remember, you’re working with a user who has already failed to convert one or more times. If the email just sends them to a generic page, their attention may be lost.

Here are a few examples of successful integration:

Coupon codes and discounts: Discounts should automatically load into their cart and their cart should still be full. At this stage, the user should be able to immediately resume the checkout process.

Finishing a profile: Your website should load at the last page that the user filled out, so that they do not need to repeat any part of the process.

Learning more: Any informational conversion prompt should always direct the user to the relevant, promised page. The goal is to provide a seamless transition between the email and the website.

Most email remarketing campaigns are successful simply because they are so innocuous. Even an irritated user will simply glance at the email and delete it — tragic for the remarketing campaign, but not necessarily detrimental to the brand. Still, reducing the irritation factor of any marketing campaign is a good goal to have, especially when trying to build a reputation.